* A large drop in U.S. crude inventories pushes up oil
* Nigeria export outages give support
* Focus shifts weekly U.S. government data
(Updates with OPEC, equity markets)
By Emma Farge and Ikuko Kao
LONDON, July 1 (Reuters) - Oil rose above $71 a barrel on
Wednesday following a large drop in crude inventories in the
United States, the world's top energy consumer, and output
disruptions from militant attacks in Nigeria.
U.S. crude futures <CLc1> were trading up $1.33 to $71.22 a
barrel by 1240 GMT. London Brent crude <LCOc1> rose $1.48 to
$70.78.
Weekly oil data from a U.S. industry group released late on
Tuesday helped oil prices to reverse the day's loss, which had
been fuelled by weak U.S. consumer confidence.
Data from the American Petroleum Institute on Tuesday showed
a 6.8 million barrel decline in U.S. crude inventories, larger
than analysts' forecast for a drawdown of 2 million barrels.
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"Maybe we have already seen the peaks in the stock levels
and we could start entering a phase where we see a slow
reduction (in stock levels)," Olivier Jakob with Petromatrix
said.
Market focus has now shifted to a separate set of data from
the U.S. government, which is seen as more reliable by
investors, due out later on Wednesday.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) is also
expected to show a fall in crude inventories due to higher
refinery runs ahead of the Independence Day weekend. []
OPEC's policy to keep output cuts intact since last year has
started to be reflected into some statistics and traders would
be watching U.S. crude import volumes in the EIA statistics,
Jakob said.
A Reuters survey showed OPEC members' compliance rate to the
agreed 4.2 million barrels per day supply curve at 72 percent in
June, a fall from 75 percent in May. []
The survey showed a fall in output in Nigeria. The recent
escalation of civil unrest in its oil-rich Niger Delta region
has hobbled Nigeria's output, providing support to oil prices.
On Tuesday, oil major Royal Dutch Shell <RDSa.L> said
attacks by Nigerian militants had cut its output to around half
of what it was producing earlier this year. []
Oil prices, which tumbled from a record high of over $147
struck in July last year to below $33 in December, have rallied
in recent months due mainly to hopes for economic recovery.
They marked a 42 percent gain in the second quarter, the
highest quarterly gain since 1990.
The equity market began the third quarter on an upbeat note,
after the world MSCI index <.MIWD00000PUS> marked the highest
quarterly gain since 1990 for the second quarter.
Europe's FTSEurofirst 300 index <> was up and U.S.
stock futures pointed to a higher open. [] []
(Additional reporting by Fayen Wong in Perth; editing by James
Jukwey)
